Jawans of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Saturday retrieved the bodies of three people from the Nunia and Garui rivulets, who drowned yesterday evening due to floods in Asansol after heavy rainfall in the past forty-eight hours in the region. Though the rain has stopped since last night and flood waters are slowly receding, the condition of the Damodar and Ajay rivers has worsened due to water release from the upstream dam. An ex-serviceman and present employee of central public sector BEML in Asansol, Chanchal Biswas (59), who has been washed away in the Nunia rivulet while driving his new car in the Kalyanpur Housing area of Asansol North last night was found dead by NDRF jawans inside the car. The car was stuck among stones.

He has left behind his wife, who is a teacher and two children. He was a resident of Sugam Park. Yesterday, ignoring the warnings of local residents, he had driven his car onto a narrow bridge across the rivulet but he and his car were swept away by a surge in the water current. The video footage captured by locals on cell phones went viral last night. His body has been sent to Asansol District Hospital for post mortem. Gouranga Roy (39), an employee of Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) , and a resident of Raha Lane in Asansol South Police Station limits drowned while riding his motorcycle on a bridge over the Garui river while going to his office at Kalipahari last night. Rohit Roy (29) a resident of K.S.Road in Asansol North, also drowned while trying to cross a bridge over the Garui rivulet yesterday evening. His body was recovered in the wee hours today near Sukanta Pally in NH-19.

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Haque, deputy mayor of Asansol Municipal Corporation (AMC), fractured his hand after falling down while supervising rescue operations in Asansol North Railpar areas. The District Magistrate of West Burdwan, S. Ponnambalam, requisitioned the NDRF yesterday evening to rescue marooned people and the drowned victims on the request of Asansol-Durgapur Police Commissionerate. Police have erected barricades in dangerous areas and put up notices urging people not to move in the area. A temporary bamboo bridge connecting the steel city of Burnpur with Biharinath Hills of Bankura district was washed away as the water in the Damodar has been flowing very high after release of water from the DVC’s Maithon and Panchet Dams today.

A family from Kolkata who were going by road for Shravani Mela to Biharinath Hills could not go due to the collapse of the bridge on this route. The movement of Kanwariyas who offer holy water to Lord Biharinath in this month of Shravana on every Monday, has also been disrupted.The pilgrims come from all over the country. Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) has released 36,000 cusecs of water from its upper Panchet Dam and 12,000 cusecs of water from Maithon Dam, according to Arvind Kumar Singh of the DVC. From Tilpara barrage in Birbhum 5558 cusecs of water has been released and from Durgapur barrage about 70,000 cusecs of water has been released since morning today, which will further swell the rivers in the downstream and create a flood-like situation. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blames the DVC every year for man-made floods in the lower basin of Damodar River during peak monsoon season.

TMC leader Kunal Ghosh posted on social media platform X today that DVC has released water for another flood in the state, though during summer West Bengal hardly gets any water for irrigation. The excess rainwater from Jharkhand spells doom for the state and CM Mamata Banerjee is keeping a close watch on the situation, he said. Anindita Mukherjee, chairperson of BOA of Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC), said that large areas are still inundated though water level is slowly receding. If there is no further rainfall then the situation will further improve in the Durgapur region from tomorrow. In Laudoha, a brick-loaded tractor turned turtle after an ADDA road turned into a virtual pond due to massive waterlogging.

Meanwhile, flight operations from Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal have been cancelled for the second consecutive day today, thoughwater level is receding in the Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport Terminal and runway. Kailash Mondal, Director of Kazi Nazrul Islam Airport in Andal said that restoration work by airport staff has been taking place on a war footing. “Water level is receding fast and we hope that we will be able to resume flight operations as early as possible. The passengers have already been intimated in advance about flight cancellations today by the operating airlines,” he added.